


Proud of You

by kawiikitkat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Birthday Presents, Bonding, Bullying, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Superfamily (Marvel), Trans Peter Parker, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-06 02:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14632007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawiikitkat/pseuds/kawiikitkat
Summary: Tony had never seen Peter that happy. His smile was so bright and his eyes were lit up. He thanked Mr. Stark and hugged him and shed a few tears. Peter was happy. Tony was happy. And if Steve were here, he'd be happy, too.





	1. The Present

**Author's Note:**

> The superfamily and tony/steve parts of the story are mostly implied and aren't explicitly stated. The main focus of this story is Peter and Tony's father/son interactions cause they're so darn cute. Also Peter isn't technically his son but it's implied.

"Open it up, kid."

Peter excitedly unwrapped the box layed on the table in front of him. A little note attached to it read "From: Tony (and Steve), To: Peter".

The room they were in was decorated with some red and blue balloons and streamers. Peter didn't want anything to extravagant for his 17th birthday, he only wanted to spend it with Mr. Stark. They had gone out for ice cream earlier in the day then watched some movies of Peter's choice. But now, according to Tony, would be the best part of the day.

Once Peter had gone through the spider-themed wrapping paper (which made him blush a little), he discovered a sophisticated box (one probably designed by Tony Stark himself) with pink, blue, and white stripes on it. Peter could recognize those arrangement of colors anywhere. He opened the lid of the box and what was inside made his heart stop for a second.

Peter held up the black chest binder that was in the box. In the middle of it was a little blue spider, like on his Spider-man suit. His eyes were wide and his jaw was slacked. His eyes darted to Mr.Stark for a second and then back to the gift. Peter, in awe, gave out a little huff and smiled from ear to ear. He opened his mouth to speak, but he could only stutter his words.

"Uhh...th-thank you! Thank you so much, Mr.Stark!" Peter tilted his head up to look at Tony, who wore a satisfied smile. Tony could see tears of joy beginning to form in the young boy's eyes. Peter put down the binder and rushed to hug him. Tony could feel him sniffling and shaking against his chest, so he patted his light brown hair to calm him down. Peter soon let go from the embrace and looked up at the older man, pure happiness shining in his eyes. A question formed on his lips, but before he could ask, Tony was already answering.

"I know you've been dying for one ever since you came out to me, so ever since then, I've been designing the perfect binder for you. It took awhile to make, but I hope it was worth it." Peter replied with an enthusiastic nod. As Peter held it up once more to look it over, Tony pointed out certain details about its design. 

"I made it out of a fabric that doesn't push too hard on your chest or constrict your breathing, so you can wear it under your suit when we go on missions. But you shouldn't wear it while your sleeping, so I added in a microchip to remind you when to take it off." He explained. "There's a whole bunch of other things I put in there, but that's not important right now. So why don't you go try that on, kid?"

"Alright! I'll be right back!" Peter called as he ran down the hallway of the Stark Tower and into his room. When he heard the click of the lock, Tony picked up his phone (the same stupid flip phone that Peter has begged him to stop using) and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Steve."

"Oh! Hi, Tony! H-how are you?" God, it was great to heart that voice again.

"I'm great. I just gave Peter his birthday gift and-"

"Oh my god! That was today? Oh, shit! I-I'm sorry, I should have remembered-" Steve usually wasn't one to swear, so he must have felt truly awful.

"It's alright, sweetie." Tony spoke in his smooth, relaxing voice that he used when Peter or Steve were stressed out. "I know you're busy out there and you have a lot going on...but don't worry. Peter understands."

"Where is Peter anyway? Can I talk to him?"

"He's trying on the binder right now. I'm sure he'll be out in a moment. Speaking of, he really loved it. I wrote down your name on the card so he knows that you were a part of it."

"Thanks, Tony, but you really shouldn't have. I d-didn't really do much. You're the one that made it and all that and-" Steve sighed over the phone. "And I couldn't even be there with you two." He muttered this last part sadly.

"Hey, don't say that! You're a part of this family, too. Besides, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have ever asked Peter about his gender or anything. You know I'm not very good at picking up signs." Tony chuckled softly and he heard Steve laugh, too.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. When Tony looked over, he saw Peter standing there in his new binder, smiling brightly. Tony gave him a thumbs up and a grin, then held the phone a few inches away from his ear to talk to him. 

"Steve is on the phone. Do you wanna-?" Before Tony could finish his question, Peter snatched the phone from him and held it up to his ear.

"Hello? Heya, Cap! I'm good, everything's really good." Peter continued to chat happily with Steve, talking about his birthday and about how much he missed him. Even though Tony couldn't hear their full conversation, he laughed along with Peter whenever he did. The chat when along for a few minutes until Peter signaled its end.

"Alright, bye Steve!" Peter handed the phone back to Tony, then stood up and grabbed a "I survived my first trip to New York" shirt off a chair. Tony put the phone against his ear again.

"Guess this is goodbye for now." Tony wished he could call Steve 'baby' or 'sweetheart' like he usually would, but it felt akward with Peter there, so he opted not to.

Instead, Steve did the honors. "Yeah, I'll miss you, honey. I'll call you whenever I get the chance, I promise. Love you."

Tony hesitated for a moment, not wanting to stop the connection between them.

"You, too. Bye." And with that, he hung up. The room felt empty without his deep, sweet voice in his ear. But he heard another voice in the room.

"Look at that! No bump!" Peter's summery voice rang as he observed himself in the mirror with the t-shirt on. Tony smiled at him, realizing what they had become. A family.


	2. What You Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Peter came home from school with the Spider-man mask on and refused to take it off when Tony asked him to, red flags went up real quick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna have to edit some of the tags for the fic since this chapter includes references to transphobia, violence, and bullying.

Tony heard the front door opening from his spot in the living room, signaling that Peter was home from school. Without looking up from his laptop, he gave his usual greeting.

"Hey, kid! How was school?" Tony called.

"Fine." Was all he got from him. This was unusual since Peter would usually give a long, detailed description of anything interesting that happened that day. Not only that, but his voice sounded...muffled?

"Guess nothing big really happened today?"

"Nope." Once again in that same muffled and hurried voice. It was as if Peter was trying to get out of this situation as quickly as possible. Tony started to worry.

"You alright, Pete--?" Tony was saying as he turned around to face him. He was caught off guard by the fact that Peter was wearing the Spider-man mask. Just the mask. Tony had warned Peter to call him if an Avengers related problem occurred while he was at school, but Tony had received no call.

"What's with the mask?" Tony stood up from the couch. "Did something happen at school?"

"N-no! Not at all! Don't worry about it Mr. Stark. I'm fine." Peter's response was rushed and panicked, obviously a lie. Tony could tell that everything was not fine.

"Then why are you wearing the mask?" Tony walked over to him cautiously.

"I-I just...um!" Peter searched for an excuse, but to no avail. He was tugging on the mask, making sure it stayed on. He gave a nervous laugh, hoping that it would ease Mr. Stark. It didn't.

"Peter, you can tell me anything. Y'know that, right?" His voice was soft and comforting. "If something happened, you can always-".

He was caught off when Peter hurried past him while avoiding his gaze. As he went into the bathroom and locked the door, he cried, "Nothing happened!"

"Peter!" Tony exclaimed after him. He rapped his knuckles against the door. "Peter, open up! C'mon!" There was no response, only the faint sound of running water from the sink.

"Peter, please open the door." This time, Tony's voice was softer. "You can talk to me. Just open the door. Please?"

He waited for a few moments in silence, waiting for any sort of answer. After a while the click of the lock sounded and Peter opened the door. Now Tony understood why he was wearing the mask.

Peter's left eye was an ugly shade of blue and purple, and a streak of dried up blood ran from his nose. His eyes were slightly red and his cheeks were wet from crying.

"Oh sh-!" Tony paused, restraining himself from swearing. "What happened to you, kid?!"

"I...got into a fight."

Tony desperately wanted to know why and with whom, but that wasn't as important as making sure Peter was okay. He rushed into the bathroom and pulled out a First Aid kit from one of the drawers. He took out a few supplies to heal the black eye and to clean the blood. Some fresh spots of crimson red dripped from his nose.

"Take it easy, Peter." Tony said gently as he pressed a cold pack onto Peter's bruised eye. "When you're ready, tell me exactly what happened to you."

Peter took in a shaky breath. Even though Mr. Stark was directly in front of him, he tried to avoid any eye contact. He exhaled.

"Umm... I went into the bathroom at school and a group of kids inside were kinda...l-looking at me weird. And when I tried to leave, they blocked the door. Then one of them stepped forward and said..."

Peter stopped talking. Tony could feel that he was quivering violently now. He was afraid and sick to his stomach about what Peter might say next.

"He said some shitty things to me and called m-me by my dead name." He couldn't speak anymore. His sobs were loud and ugly, but he didn't try to stop them. Peter held onto Tony, crying against his shoulder.

When Peter calmed down after a while, he continued talking. "When he said it, I just...froze. He slammed me against a wall but I didn't do anything. _I didn't do anything_. He just kept hitting me over and over again. Next thing I knew I was on the floor. I stayed in there until the end of the school day. I-um...skipped my last class of the day. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong, trust me." Tony said soothingly. But on the inside he was mortified. Stunned. Furious. Not at Peter; but at the kid who hurt him and at the school for not giving a shit. He wanted to walk up there and ask why the person he cared about most came home beaten and battered and bruised.

But Tony kept his seething rage inside. He didn't want Peter to see him like that.

"I'm gonna have to report this to your school tomorrow, but I need you to be there with me. I can't let this happen to you- or to anyone else- again. You understand?"

Peter, with shiny eyes, looked up at him and nodded. He wrapped his arms around Mr. Stark and muttered "Thank you."

"Alright, Peter. Go rest and heal. I'm going to call Steve and tell him what happened." Tony kissed the top of Peter's head. With that, Peter left the bathroom and went upstairs to his room.

"G'night, Mr. Stark." He said, the usual optimism in his voice gone. Tony watched sadly as the teen disappeared from view at the top of the stairs. He then picked up his phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Tony?"

"Hey, Steve."

"Is something wrong? You usually never call me unless something happened."

"Peter...uh-" Turns out breaking the news to him was way harder than Tony first intended. "Peter got into a fight at school."

"What!? Oh God, is he okay?"

"Well...not really, unfortunately. Came home with a bloody nose and a black eye."

"Deafening silence filled the air when Steve didn't respond.

"I'm going to talk to the school about it tomorrow. I hope I can do something about it."

"Me too, Tony."

Tony's hands started shaking and his breathing was unsteady. He felt his eyes well up with tears. "I just want Peter to be safe. I want to let him know that...that we love him."

"I'm sure he knows that, darling. Especially for you. You do so much to protect him and to make him happy."

Tony knew that Steven could see him through the phone, but he smiled anyway. He truely believed what Steve said. "Thanks, Stevie. I wish you were here so I could tell you face-to-face how much you mean to me."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. For a moment, Tony was anxious that he might of said the wrong thing. But he was reassured when Steve's husky voice spoke through the phone.

"Alright, if that's what you need."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is way more sad than the first, but don't worry! The next (and final) one will be more happy. :)


End file.
